


play with my hair (not my heart)

by spark_M



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Cats, Cuddling & Snuggling, Developing Friendships, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Platonic Cuddling, so so soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-12
Updated: 2019-10-12
Packaged: 2020-12-13 19:07:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21002681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spark_M/pseuds/spark_M
Summary: A touch starved Seungmin jumps on the opportunity to cuddle with someone, even if he has to pay 60,000 won for it.orThe story of a boy away from home, who finds comfort in an adorable tabby cat, and his even cuter owner.(Living garbage pile has been removed from this fic!)





	play with my hair (not my heart)

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt #105  
A pats someone (B) to play with their hair.

Seungmin had always been touch starved, but it began to bother him more when he moved away to Seoul, away from his family and friends for college.

His family had been affectionate enough, they had hugged him and praised him, but not often. His friends in L.A had never been too keen on skinship, often pushing him away when he hugged them or awkwardly patting his back, obviously not feeling comfortable with the close contact. He didn’t blame them, everyone had their reasons, so, he respected their boundaries, stopping when he realized they were uncomfortable. However, that led him to be touch starved, treasuring small moments of affection like a teacher squeezing his shoulder when they were proud of him, a kid hugging him after he helped them find their mom, a congratulatory pat on the back. Those things made him happy, and he loved those little moments, but he also just wanted a cuddle buddy. He hadn’t made any friends in his college yet, the classes would start in a week, and the only person he’d held a conversation with had been the RA, Chan, when he got his keys from the man and he gave him a tour of the dorm. He had given him a pat on the back and made him promise to tell him if he needed anything. Seungmin wondered if he could text him to ask for a hug, but quickly brushed it away thinking it to be weird to ask someone for a hug after you had only met them once for less than fifteen minutes.

So, when he overheard a woman at the line at a coffee shop waiting to get his americano talking about her experience at _ Cuddles&Cats, _he was naturally intrigued.

The woman was talking to her friend who was next to her while waiting for her drink. She told her friend about how she has thought it was really sketchy at first - on their website the address had been a flat and not a shop-like place. She answered her friend's questions, also answering the ones in Seungmin’s head that he didn’t speak aloud. She had apparently seen an ad for it and looked at their website which explained what they did among other information.

Cuddles&Cats was essentially paid cuddling, but with cats, which made it ten times better. The people at the place were there to cuddle with you in exchange for money, and you could do it from one hour up to five. The cats there were also there for the customers to pet them, cuddle with them and play with them. So of course, this peaked Seungmin’s interest. Getting cuddles _ and _playing with cats? Sign him up!

When he was on the train on his way back to his dorm room, he pulled out his phone and typed the place’s name into the search bar, anticipating the results. What he got was a pink and purple themed website with cursive font displaying the place’s name. 

_ “Feeling deprived of human contact? Missing cuddling with someone? We have professional cuddlers (and cats!) who are more than happy to help! _

  
  


And that’s how Seungmin ended up in front of the apartment complex a day before his university orientation. 

He took a deep breath and rung the doorbell. He had sent them an email with the time he’d be coming in and how long he wanted the “cuddling session” to last. 

He heard a chipper but deep voice through the barely functioning speaker.

“Hello! Come in, it’s the fourth floor!”

Seungmin quickly made his way through the door, into the apartment complex and got on the elevator. He pressed the fourth floor and took a deep breath to calm himself down. He was a bit nervous.

When he stepped out of the elevator, he saw a boy with the brightest smile and a cat in his arms. 

“Hi! I’m Felix!” He introduced himself, scratching the cat’s head in the meantime. “And this is Nayeon! Say hello Nayeon!” Felix’s voice suddenly changed from his gravely deep to a cutesy high voice as he took the cat’s paw and used it to wave at Seungmin. It was so adorable that Seungmin had to coo at the sight.

“Hello! I’m Seungmin. Nice to meet you Felix. And Nayeon of course.” He finished up with a smile. The cat made him less nervous, because cats always make everything better. 

Felix ushered Seungmin in and shut the door after him. Seungmin looked around at the place which was decorated with a pastel purple color scheme. There were dark purple sofas and a kitchen connected to the living room. There were a couple posters hung up with pictures of cats, some were encouraging quotes and he’s pretty sure he saw a cat meme all the way in the corner. There were some cats lounging around or playing with the little castles out there for them, and after asking Felix if he was allowed to pet them, Seungmin approached the nearest cat and started to pet it, calling it cute names and cooing over its cuteness. 

“Her name is Jihyo.” 

A boy suddenly appeared next to him, his voice smooth and excited. Seungmin shifted his gaze away from Jihyo to look at who had spoken to him.

He saw a boy with ash colored hair and a smile that could rival Felix’s bright one. He was incredibly handsome, but his inviting and comforting aura impressed Seungmin more.

“Do you name all your cats after Twice?” He asked in a teasing voice, chuckling at the end.

“We have everyone except Momo and Tzyuru, but yes, we are true Onces” The boy spoke and extended his hand to pet Jihyo.

“As much as I’d like to talk about Twice, you came here for cuddles and we take hourly payment so do you want to start?” He spoke and turned towards a door, mentioning Seungmin to come with him.

“Can Jihyo come?” Seungmin asked, now holding her in his arms.

“I’m afraid not. Our other uh, _ customer _will not be happy if she’s gone. She’s his favorite.”

At the word customer, Felix blushed, stuck his tongue out to the boy and responded.

“You’re just jealous Hyunjin! And yes, Binnie would totally throw a tantrum if he saw Jihyo gone.” Seungmin realized that the boy’s name was Hyunjin and repeated it three times in his head to not forget it. He also caught on to what was going on pretty quickly. This “Binnie” must be Felix’s boyfriend or crush, hence why he blushed like crazy.

Hyunjin stuck out his tongue back at him and Seungmin laughed.

“Is this “Binnie” your boyfriend? He’s my rival now, I’ll steal Jihyo away from him. Look she likes me!” He said with a smile on his face while got even wider when Jihyo headbutted his arm. In a second, their expressions went from silly to concerned, then to a relieved smile.

“Will do.” Felix replied happily. He waved at Seungmin and went into a room while trying to calm down Nayeon who had started getting restless.

Seungmin had said that boyfriend statement on purpose, a way to tell them that he was totally cool with two boys being in a relationship, which was something that was unfortunately frowned upon in South Korea, despite the modern age. Seungmin himself liked boys, but also girls and everybody else. It had been a realization that wasn’t too grave, he had always found boys attractive, and had very much liked it when he kissed a boy named Eric at a party in his senior year. They had even gone to a couple dates, shared more kisses, comforted each other when they were homesick but alas, it had ended. Eric had moved back to Korea, and they had decided to break up. Seungmin wondered if somehow fate would be kind enough to cross their paths again. He could only hope.

Breaking out of his thoughts, he followed Hyunjin into the room and saw another cat on top of the bed, which immediately made him happier. 

“Which one is this one? Sana?” Seungmin asked, turning his body to Hyunjin, waiting for his answer.

“ Actually, no! Her name is Yeon. See? Not a twice member.” Hyunjin spoke and crosses his arms, a pout prominent on his lips.

Seungmin kept silent for a second before he spoke his thoughts.

“Yeon? As in Jeongyeon?”

Hyunjin let out a dramatic whine and Seungmin couldn’t help but bend over in laughter. These cuddle boys were really fun people.

“Yes! And what about it? She’s my queen.” 

“Understandable. She’s my bias wrecker.” 

“My bias is Dahyun but Jeongyeon has been trying to take the spot lately.” Hyunjin giggled cutely at the end of his sentence, making Seungmin notice how nice the boy’s laugh was.

“Do you have _ any _cats that aren’t named after Twice? Not even one?” Seungmin asked while pointing his index finger for more dramatic affect.

“Well, we still don’t have Momo and Tzyru like I said, but I guess besides them, we only have Soonie which is one of our employee’s cats. She’s here all the time because Minho doesn’t like leaving her alone at home so he brings her here.”

Very intelligently, Seungmin replied with an “Aaah” and sat down on the bed. Hyunjin let himself fall onto the bed as well, next to Seungmin.

“So, let’s get started, shall we?”

After talking about their boundaries and what not to do, they looked at a couple pamphlets with “cuddling positions” written on it. After picking out a couple to start with, Hyunjin hugged him and told him (again) that he should tell him if he was ever uncomfortable.

The first couple minutes were awkward, both parties could tell. But after a couple more minutes - more like fifteen - Seungmin finally relaxed and let himself be held and caressed. It was extremely therapeutic, being comfortable enough to bury his face in someone’s neck after about half an hour after meeting them. Yeon was around, she occasionally came and climbed on top of them, making them giggle and pet the adorable creature. A question popped into Seungmin’s head and he spoke aloud in an almost whisper like tone.

“Do you go to uni?” He asked tenderly.

“Yeah.” Hyunjin smiled softly as he answered “I go to Clé, near that famous cafe, Young Wings maybe you know it?” 

“Oh!” Seungmin sat up from excitement “I’m gonna start there!” He had a big smile on his face, happy about having someone he could talk to. When he realized that he had gotten a tad too excited, he apologized with his cheeks ablaze, moving to lie back down.

The boy with the mole under his eye didn’t mind however, and he continued to smile softly at Seungmin and wrapped his arms around the boy once more.

“That’s cool. What are you majoring in?” Hyunjin asked as he moved his hands up and down Seungmin’s back, making him relax.

“Photography major and minor in vocal performance.” He closed his eyes and softly exhaled “You?” 

“Psychology major and dance minor.”

“Interesting combo” Seungmin commented, interested in the reason.

“Yeah, I love dancing but I love psychology as well. And more jobs for psych majors than dance ones.” 

They chatted for about half an hour more, talking about classes, interests and more. Seungmin learned that all the young boys worked part time, and they had met on the job. Seungmin didn’t know if this much sharing was a part of Hyunjin’s job or not, but he really liked it.

The conversation died out, and they fell into a comfortable silence, Hyunjin playing with his hair, Seungmin lying partially on his chest. For a second, Seungmin wished he could stay there forever, with an amazing, kind boy running his hands through his hair, and a cat by their side. After that second passed though, he realized how ridiculous that wish was and quickly disregarded the thought. Maybe not forever, but for now, he closed his eyes again, snuggled more into Hyunjin and let his eyes fall shut once more.

Sooner than he would have liked, Seungmin was being walked out the door by Hyunjin and Felix, this time with Minho joining them. He had gotten to meet Soonie and even though she didn’t like him that much, Seungmin adored her.

He had also met Felix’s boyfriend Changbin, and had told him jokingly that he would steal Jihyo away from him. Changbin had taken great offense (in a joking manner, of course) and had threatened to call the police. He seemed like a nice guy, besides the death threats that he had also thrown into the mix if he _ did _end up stealing Jihyo.

He found out that they all went to the uni Seungmin was going to start at, and got really excited again. Felix and Hyunjin made him promise to talk to them at orientation, and who was Seungmin to say no to that? 

(He was really glad that they asked, because he was really terrified of being all alone. But they didn’t need to know that.)

Seungmin was standing at the uni entrance, leaning on the wall where they had agreed to meet the day prior. He occasionally looked up from his phone to check if the cuddle boys had arrived. Just as he was internally dancing to Fancy, he felt someone touch his shoulder and turned around to see a boy with round glasses.

“Hi!” The boy said, a big smile forming at his lips “I’m Jeongin! What’s your name?”

“Seungmin” He replied “Are you here for the orientation?” he asked Jeongin, a smile of his own making its way to his face. 

“Yeah! But I don’t wanna go in alone. And you looked friendly, and I saw that you were listening to twice so I figured you were a guy of taste” Jeongin said while playing with his fingers, awaiting his response. Seungmin laughed and did the chorus dance while singing, which got a laugh out of the smaller boy.

“Actually, I’m waiting to meet a couple people. Do you wanna wait with me and then we can all go in together?” Seungmin was starting to like this kid.

“Sure! I’d love to!” 

As they were making small talk, talking about which classes they were taking and whatnot - Seungmin found out that they share their music theory class, and made a mental note to sit next to him when classes started. Not so long after, he saw Felix waving wildly at him, Hyunjin, Minho and Changbin following close behind. He smiled and waved back, waiting for them to come nearer.

After Jeongin and the cuddle boys were introduced, they went inside and saw a couple tables with people sitting down either on them or on a chair beside them. They walked towards the one with “Check-In” written on a piece of paper after Minho recognized the guy who was sitting on the table.

“Jisung! Jisung! Hi!” Minho tried to get the guy’s attention, and when he did Jisung quickly got up and they shared a short hug. Another round of introductions went and came, they went through the process of checking in with Jisung who then directed them towards a “Yugyeomie hyung” who would give them groups to be given tours in.

When they approached said guy, Seungmin saw that he had a tag with his name and a bear drawn next to it. Yugyeom smiled at them and looked up their names on the list he had, telling them that they would be given a tour by him and another classmate of his, Chan. Seungmin remembered the boy from his tour with him, he had been really nice, so he was content.

After a little bit of chatting and waiting, they were rounded up by the RA’s and given a tour of the campus, being introduced to classes, the cafeteria and everything else. Time went by quickly and he found himself being handed out his timetable, told to have a good day and to rest well before classes start the next day. The RA’s Chan and Yugyeom had turned out to be really good friends of Jisung and Minho, so after they had finished their jobs, they had joined in on their conversations and fit right in.

“Oh!” Jeongin, looked as if he remembered something important “ Can I get your guys’ numbers? We can make a group chat!” Everyone agreed and thus, the “Shool Life” group chat was born. (The misspelling had been too good to later delete, so they had left it in.)

As they were parting ways, everyone gave each other a short hug, and Seungmin quickly found out that everyone gave really good hugs - which was inevitable from the cuddle boys, but not expected from the rest. His favorite had been Yugyeom’s hug, who’s hug had been warm and reminded him of home. 

When he hugged Hyunjin, he couldn’t help but ask.

“Do I get free hugs from now on? Friend privilege?” Seungmin said with a teasing tone. Hyunjin chuckled and pulled him in for another one.

“You can have as many free hugs as you want!” 

Seungmin went home with a smile on his face, anticipating this year with his new friends, cats and new memories.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this story. If im being compleatly honest, this is one of my least favorite things ive written. I really love the idea and the prompt (thank you so much to the prompter) but i think my writing could have been better.  
thank you so much to my beta who proof read this! They are amazing. 
> 
> stream double knot!


End file.
